Supper Time

Houston, Texas: Winedale Publishing, 1999. BA3 - A first edition (stated with numberline 24689753 centered) hardcover book SIGNED and dated by Leon Hale on the front free endpaper in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket and book have some bumped corners, light discoloration and shelf wear. Illustrations by Barbara Matthews Whitehead. Recollections and Recipes. 8.5"x5.75", 210 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. In this delightful and heart-warming stroll through the kitchens of his life, Leon Hale recreates for us the bountiful tables of our parents and grandparents - and if we are lucky, ourselves. These were tables glowing with the memory of good friends and good times - filled with nurturing fare like chicken and dumplings, cornbread with Jersey butter, green beans simmered with salt pork, and fragrant fried pies. From the day in Bryan when he invented blackened chicken to his bachelor apartment adventures making pot roast and "the Soupwich" - a lunch time staple - Hale has been a producer of unusual dishes. But he is only an occasional cook. For the most part he has been on the consuming end, as he recalls some of the beloved figures whose signature dishes he still longs for: "Mimi" Vick's Christmas ambrosia; Mary Elizabeth Adams and her world class fried chicken, Marie Moore's guacamole salad accompanied by fried Matagorda oysters - a holiday tradition. Or Mark Hale's Texas cheese dip, which remains the Hale family's all purpose comfort food. With memories of meals prepared by cooks who learned their craft in the late 1800s mingling with portrayals of more recent, often healthier fare, Supper Time serves as a small scale food history of the twentieth century South and Southwest. But it is, primarily, an intimate, unforgettable portrait of a man, his friends, his family and his time, full of personal preferences, brimming with memory and affection, enriched by family recipes, old and new. And Hale tells his story with the self-deprecating humor, wit and grace for which he is celebrated.. Signed by Author. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.